To express the concern towards the affected persons at the hands of the terrorists during the recent attack in Mumbai and as an expression of our solidarity with the security forces that valiantly fought for us, we as citizens of Chennai wish to pledge our support and feelings for our fellow Indians.

This is the objective of the CITIZENS FOR CHANGE – CHENNAI CHAPTER [www.citizensforchange.in]

citizensforchange (Chennai Chapter), therefore, plan to have a gathering of the concerned citizens of Chennai at the Marina Beach behind the Mahatma Gandhi Statue (service lane) on Sunday, 7th December ’08 between 9.30 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. They will all assemble there, observe a minute of silence for the all the brave men and women who lost their lives in terror attacks and take a pledge for PEACE and CHANGE.

Please make it if it is possible for you. I know the post is up a bit late, but if you are somewhere nearby and reading this post before the event, do make it to Marina beach and express your solidarity to this good cause

The Chennai Corporation recently announced that it would not fine those indiscriminately dumping garbage in the streets at least until July 1. Earlier the fines were to be imposed from April 1 to act as a deterrent for people from dumping garbage not just on the street but possibly from each other’s backyards as well.

Most people would have it that we are a lazy people. We don’t take out our garbage. Neither do we segregate it. Well, for that matter neither does the corporation. My college thesis was on how the city was dumping garbage without segregating in one of its dumps on the outskirts.

The only fear I had when the fines were announced were over whether they would be implemented properly. What do you think? Would you not spit on the road if you were compelled to pay fines? (That rule is not yet in). Do you think you rather live in unclean streets rather than trusting this city corporation?

The official reason for the delay is that the corporation needs time to build some 100 public toilets and and buy compactors to remove garbage before bringing in the fine regime.

The useless Union Budgeting exercising has once again placated M Karunanidhi’s ego. Once again it has shown tokenism towards Chennai. Yes Chennai has been allocated Rs 300 crores towards a desalination plant.(more…)

The state government plan to give the city an airport of international standards has again met with an obstacle. Following a petition by the residents of Manapakkkam, a city suburb, the Madras High Court on Wednesday decided to grant an interim stay preventing the government from acquiring land in the village.(more…)

Truth is neither myself or any of my relatives or friends who belong to this cursed community reveal our cultural identity in a public space. Not that we care to do it is a concious effort to ensure that our religious identity is not revealed at any cost. This is the case with most brahmins in the city i have interacted with and there is a reason why.

Before you judge me as a BJP or an RSS supporter i will kindly remind you that im an atheist of first cadre and the BJP or RSS/VHP did no good for than the Congress for the Kashmiri Brahmins during their reign. So forget the losers and lets move on with our discussion….

Note: I could not figure out quite how to put this from a third person perspective so i addressed it as “I” which is a easier thing to write. Read it as from a common man/3rd person perspective.(more…)

I have been always wondering whether people at DC can make nice ads other than showing off skin (SEXY) to sell newspaper. Finally I see a good advertisement hoarding which is meant for common people.(more…)

There is a good old trustworthy way of having things sorted out in the history of this city and its darn authorities. Problem identified, Problem AVOIDED, problem gone! (Read as forgotten)
Did i even mention about resolving a problem at hand, i apologize. I wasn’t thinking like the average chennai’te govt authority which makes me unconsciously productive.
I was doing some casual reading and I came across this random article on the Anna University banning the use of cell phones in colleges as a disciplinary measure. Adding to this, they also instruct people to wear this and wear that and not to wear tight fitting clothes that may look attractive, blah blah blah and everything. I’m stupefied, completely! Okay i know I’m too late to talk about this now but hey if we don’t talk about this who else will fix this?
I’m not a student of Anna university, i don’t work for any newspaper who pays me to write this nor do i have any personal grudge that i hold against Anna university. However like every average individual I’m concerned about the decisions, our so called authorities are making for us because some of them are out rightly low in thought process and analysis. So bad that you could visit the KMC Hospital wards and observe the patients blabber and you would not find it any different.(more…)

My first crossing of paths with Poet Salma, so to speak – was through a bundle of controversies. Until then, I’d only had a vague idea of who she was. Looking at excerpts of her work made me determined to find out more about her, and I read every interview I could ever lay my hands on.

But those weren’t enough. Soon, I wanted to see the rebel in person – because so often, what you read is very seldom a real reflection of who a person is. I dug into her whereabouts, and – surprise! – discovered that she was in Chennai after all – and met her.

Perhaps those of the glittering literati out there have already read all there is to read of her – but to me, it was an experience and a half. That’s what I’ve tried to record here. Perhaps Nandhu might like to add his perceptions as well. :)

I just stumbled across this site of CMDA. It seems, they do have a plan for Chennai and related development activities. I was really surprised to see that they have plans till 2026. Wow! I didn’t know India was that far-sighted. In the society around us we see so much confusion and chaos that we often lose track of the future. We see the *system* failing miserably at every instance of life here.

They are calling this plan – SECOND MASTER PLAN. The pessimist in me wonders what happened to the First Master Plan. Wonder if it was fully executed.

Vision 2026 is to make Chennai a prime metropolis which will be more livable, economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable and with better assets for the future generations.